


For Your Eyes Only

by lettersfromnowhere



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: 500 word ficlets, Cuddling, F/M, Fake Dating, First Kiss, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Rivals to Lovers, Sharing a Bed, mostly modern AUs, prompt fills
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:20:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25946485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lettersfromnowhere/pseuds/lettersfromnowhere
Summary: A collection of fluffy Zutara oneshots requested by the lovely people of the Zutara Defense Squad.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 56
Kudos: 272





	1. Let Me Be the One

**Author's Note:**

> I start college tomorrow, and I finished my novel last night so I have some space in my writing schedule again. Thus, I wanted to go out with a bang and write some fic...cue the request for prompts on Twitter/Discord, and this! I hope you all love these as much as I loved writing them.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Giving his crush his last paycheck to attend his ex's wedding with him might not have been Zuko's best idea. (Prompt: fake dating, requested by @SITHSKATARA.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is absolutely shameless fluff because I made the chat read "four days and three nights" earlier and had to make it up to them. Oops.

"Hey, Zuko, are you doing okay?" Katara doesn't have to crane her neck to see his face with the heels she's wearing, but she still does, peering into his eyes like she's giving him a checkup. "You look flushed." She frowns and pauses. "Like, _really_ flushed. Are you sick?" 

Zuko nearly chokes. "No, no, I'm fine!" he sputters, his face turning even redder and not from the exertion of dancing. "It's just hot in here!" 

She gives him a funny look. "Zuko, I'm _freezing."_

"W-wait, you are?" suddenly this is more important than his embarrassment and he's shrugging off his jacket to offer to her. "I'm so sorry, I-" 

She accepts the jacket (he has to put up a fight not to notice the adorable way it dwarfs her slim shoulders) but shakes her head. "Zuko, you're changing the subject. What's _actually_ wrong with you?" 

"I guess I'm just embarrassed," he tells her once he realizes that she's not going to let him off the hook without a sensible explanation. "I mean...here I am at my ex's wedding, completely and pathetically _single,_ when I _know_ that half the reason she invited me was to rub it in my face that I was missing out." 

"Well, no one knows you're single," Katara points out. "And I think I've done an admirable job convincing them, hm?" 

He has to smile at that. "Best fake girlfriend $50 can buy," he jokes, because the situation - his week's paycheck spent paying the cute girl from his organic chemistry class to pose as his girlfriend at his ex's wedding - is simply too absurd not to make light of. 

"Please, you and I both know it wasn't the money that did it," she teases, ducking under his arm as he twirls her. "It was the free sushi bar." 

"Not my charming company?" 

Katara just stares at him for a moment and then bursts out laughing and soon she's doubled over. "You," she gasps as soon as she's caught her breath even a little bit, "are _terrible_ at flirting." She inhales shakily. " _So bad."_

"I'm not flirting with you!" 

"Please, Zuko." Katara's laughter has died down but she's still wiping tears from the corner of her eyes. "You could've asked any girl you knew to come to this, but you asked me. I know there was a reason for that." 

He's never wanted to vaporize into thin air more. 

"Um. I'm sorry-" 

"Why?" Katara asks, her laugh gentle now. "I mean, I'm a little offended that you thought you'd have to pay me to go out with you, but I wouldn't have said yes if I didn't _want_ to."

"You... _wanted_ to go out with me?" 

Katara crosses her arms and stares at him, which causes Zuko to fear for his life until she leans forward, grabs his collar and kisses him until he feels faint. 

"That answer your question?"

(He still kind of fears for his life, but this time, he decides, that is completely fine.) 


	2. These Arms Were Made For Holding You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara knows all too well that cold is best combated by closeness. (Prompt: cuddling.)

Firebenders aren't supposed to get _cold_ like this and Zuko is, quite frankly, rather upset that his own body has so thoroughly failed at the thing it is supposed to be so good at. He tries to burrow down further into the furs surrounding him but it _still_ does nothing to cut through the chill-

"Zuko, stop _squirming,"_ Katara mumbles sleepily, wrapping her arms around his waist to keep him still. "I need to sleep..." 

"Sorry," he rasps. "I'm just-" 

"Don't you say it, Zuko, _don't you say it."_

"...cold." 

"Welcome to my _life!"_ Katara crows a little too gleefully she has _never,_ in their four years together and their three visits to the South Pole in that time, gotten her husband to admit he's cold. "You can't handle one _night_ here? This was the first fourteen years of my _life."_

"How did you stand it?" he mumbles, pressing closer to her. _That,_ at least, warms him a little.

"A little bit like this," she says, and turns over so that they're pushed flush together. They'd been sleeping back-to-back, but now he wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her in as close as he can get her. She squirms a little before stilling in his arms, and warmth blooms in Zuko's chest, if nowhere else. He drops his chin and pushes his forehead against hers and she tilts her lips up to brush his nose, which is as freezing as every other part of him. 

" _This_ is how you got warm as a kid?" he asks, half-teasing and half-serious. "I'm not sure how I feel about that." 

"Not _quite_ like this," she says, reaching out an arm to adjust the furs so that they trap their body heat in a cocoon of sealskin. "But keeping close is the best way to stay warm. Sharing body heat and all that." 

"I like that," he murmurs against her hair. 

"What, sharing body heat?"

"A practical excuse to snuggle," he says, and she laughs softly against his shoulder. 

"You _always_ have one of those, love." She winds her icy hands around his neck and holds on tight; he can feel the hot puffs of breath against his neck as she laughs. 

"Oh, I don't _need_ one, but it's not often that cuddling is necessary for survival." He places a series of sloppy kisses against her jaw, because it's just about the only part of her that isn't covered up and she laughs again, batting him away and pulling him in for a proper kiss as soon as he stops. 

"Hm, it's _always_ necessary to me," she teases. "They say you need eight hugs a day, you know."

"How many does this count for, then?" Zuko asks, his lips wandering down her jaw again. "Three? Four?"

"Nope, just the one," Katara teases back, her voice a little wobbly as he presses kisses to her throat. "Do you think I'd cheat myself out of more Zuko time by making it worth _four?"_

"Fair point." 


	3. Last First Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spin the bottle: there's a reason it's a trope. (Prompt: first kiss, requested by @zaybaybeh)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Middle school AUs aren't a thing but I'm writing one anyway.

Katara is going to _murder_ Azula. 

She's never liked her classmate, whose birthday party she's ended up at because, for inexplicable reasons, Katara's entire seventh-grade class and half of the eighth grade, too, were invited. She'd wanted to skip it, as she can't stand Azula, but their older brothers are classmates and best friends, so she'd been talked into tagging along. And she's regretting that decision more by the minute. 

"Guys, it's _my_ birthday!" Azula whines, pouting her lip out in an expression that really shouldn't be as hard to resist as it is. "And _I wanna play Spin the Bottle_."

"But, Azula..." her friend Ty Lee says, apprehension creeping across her face. She's almost always smiling, so seeing her so worried has Katara even more desperate not to play. "I just don't think-" 

"Did I _stutter,_ Ty Lee?" 

"Okay," Ty Lee says dejectedly, very pointedly trying not to look at Sokka as she folds her arms protectively across her chest. "Who's going first?" 

"I will," Mai, the other third of Azula and Ty Lee's posse, says. She takes a seat and spins the empty glass soda bottle in the center of the circle with such force that it skitters across the circle and almost hits Yue, seated on the other side. It stops on Haru, and, with a totally dead-eyed expression, Mai walks over to Haru, sinks to her knees, and presses her lips against his as quickly as she can. 

(They both look disgusted.) 

Toph, one of Katara's only friends here, is next, and when she spins the bottle it lands on Suki, their _other_ mutual girlfriend in the group. Toph's not particularly phased, though she only kisses Suki's cheek (which Katara finds hilarious because they _both,_ she knows, have crushes on her brother). So it goes: Chan kisses Jin and no one misses Azula's glower; Jet kisses Azula and no one misses Azula's glower; Ty Lee kisses Mai's cheek and no one misses-

Well, one gets the point. 

Half the circle's already kissed before Katara gets her turn to give the bottle a halfhearted spin; it takes half a turn and lands facing _Zuko._

 _Zuko._ Hot, brooding, older-brother's-off-limits-best-friend Zuko. She gulps. 

"Um." She doesn't look at Zuko as she speaks, even though there's really no one else she'd be addressing. "Is it okay if I retry?" 

"You _hear_ that, Zuzu?" Azula cuts in before her brother has a chance to respond. "She doesn't wanna kiss you! Isn't that _embarrassing?'_

"Shut _up,_ Azula," he scoffs, but his cheeks turn red. That makes Katara's blood boil and her apprehension is forgotten. 

"Who says?" she says, suddenly feeling bold; she walks across the circle, pulling Zuko up by the collar of his shirt until he's standing, too, and kisses him. 

It is by no means an objectively good kiss, and there is _nothing_ romantic about it, but the way his porcelain cheeks flush a pretty shade of peach makes her smile and she whispers, "I _did_ want to do that." 


	4. One Way or Another

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was only one bed. They were pining for each other. What could possibly go wrong? (requested by @aurcras)

It is an absolute outrage that the imbeciles who organized this diplomatic summit chose a hotel with exactly one room too few for the attendees. And it is even more outrageous that the single person who got jipped in that arrangement was the newest Ambassador of the Southern Water Tribe. Zuko has half a mind to storm down the concierge and demand that a room be made available, but Katara just about insists that he stay put and let her stay elsewhere. "I'll stay on the ship," she tells him with what's supposed to be a reassuring smile, but it doesn't really have its desired effect. 

See, Zuko had been counting on this. Because yes, he's the Fire Lord, and yes, he has a job to do here. But he's also a nineteen-year-old boy and he's so in love with his Ambassador that it physically pains him sometimes, and this was going to be his Golden Opportunity to Make Something Happen. They were staying in the same hotel and could move about a little more freely than they would at the palace; plus, vacation always seemed to embolden people, and he felt a little less apprehensive than he would at home. So, here, he would be able to ask her to take a walk with him late at night, take her to the gardens out behind the hotel, and he'd take her hands in his and profess his undying love-

None of that now, though. 

He's sulking when Katara finds him next and she laughs, telling him not to get so wound-up, but it doesn't work. Instead he blurts out, "stay with me." 

Katara circles around to face him and asks, "I'm sorry, what?" 

"Stay in my room! I'll take the couch," he tells her before he can talk himself out of it. 

"Is that even allowed?"

"I'm the Fire Lord. I do what I want." 

"Are you absolutely sure?" 

"Oh, extremely." 

"Sure, then." Katara smiles shyly. "Thanks."

* * *

"Zuko, this is ridiculous. Get off the floor." 

"There's nowhere else to sleep!" 

Katara rolls over in a bed too big for one to glare at him and knows he's making excuses, even though the couch he'd promised doesn't exist. "Zuko, get in the bed." 

"Katara, I can't." 

"It's huge, and you have to lead a meeting tomorrow," she points out, patting the comforter next to her. "If you haven't slept, it's going to be a mess." 

"But it's-"

"Zuko. Get in bed." 

"Fine," he huffs, picking up the blanket he'd been using on the floor. 

"It's like you're insulted to have to share a bed with me," Katara quips, leaning up on her elbow to catch his eyes with a teasing smile. 

"It isn't that, Katara." 

"Then what is it?" 

"It's... _you,"_ he admits, blushing. 

Katara's breath hitches and she clutches the sheets closer for cover, even though she's completely clothed. "Me?" 

"You," he says breathlessly, taking a seat beside her on the comforter.

"Stay," she whispers, and he cannot refuse.


	5. Better Off Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the rivalry between Spirit Oasis Coffee and The Jasmine Dragon to be settled once and for all. 
> 
> Settling the score, though, was _not_ supposed to feel this much like a date.

“You might as well give up now, Katara. You’re not going to beat our matcha.”   
  


“I beg to differ. I say _you’re_ not going beat _our_ latte.”   
  


“Tea will _always_ beat coffee.”   
  


“Don’t you hate tea?”   
  


Zuko glanced down at his Jasmine Dragon apron rather sheepishly. “It’s not my favorite, but you know what is?”

Katara raised her eyebrows. “Losing?” 

”Beating you.” He sniffed. “And proving once and for all that The Jasmine Dragon is the best coffee...I mean, tea...I mean, _hot drink shop_ this side of Whaletail Island.”   
  


“Please, Zuko.” She straightened her Spirit Oasis Coffee t-shirt and accepted the matcha he held out to her. “Spirit Oasis has topped the coffee category on the Best-Of list in the Caldera City Tribune six years running.”   
  


“Jasmine Dragon always gets ‘best atmosphere’!” Zuko said indignantly, earning them the stares of everyone in hearing range of the park bench they sat on. He grudgingly accepted her coffee. 

“Yeah, no thanks to you, e-boy,” Katara teased, taking a sip of the Jasmine Dragon’s green tea. Try as she did to conceal it, her eyes widened with pleasure as soon as she tasted the tea, and she couldn’t help but smile when she lowered the cup back to her lap. “Okay. So you put up a good fight. But...” she smiled deviously. “I know Spirit Oasis is going to pull through.”   
  


“We’ll see about that,” he said, taking a sip of the iced coffee she’d given him.   
  
“Can you taste the hint of cinnamon?” Katara asked him. “Adding that was my idea. Really brings out the flavor of the coffee, hm?”   
  


“It’s good,” Zuko grudgingly admitted. Even blended, the coffee had been wonderful, its flavor rich and dense. “But it’s not the knockout you said it would be.”   
  


“Well, neither was that hot leaf juice you gave me!” 

”I’d take hot leaf juice over hot bean juice any day!”   
  


“Admit it, Zuko.” Katara crossed her arms defiantly. “After three years of working here every single summer, trying to one-up each other...you _gotta_ admit that I came out on top.”   
  


“Oh, _you_ definitely did.” Zuko had no problem admitting that Katara - friendly, tryhard Katara - was a million times more dedicated to her job than Zuko, who’d only taken it to help his uncle. But Spirit Oasis...

Well. It was a hotbed of hipsters that existed to suck wallets dry with its exorbitantly-priced lattes. Not like Jasmine Desgon - Jasmine Dragon had Heart. And Soul. Iroh made sure of that. It was homey and cozy where Spirit Oasis looked like an abandoned warehouse with a few tables and some cases of overpriced pastries that didn’t even look like they’d taste good.   
  


“I did?” Katara’s cheeks flushed.   
  


“It was never you I had the problem with, Katara. It was that stupid hipster hotspot.” He shook his head. “Spirit Oasis is a passing fad. _You’re_ the cute, smart, confident girl who makes it slightly less awful.”

”Oh?” Katara’s smile was like the sun. “I had no idea you felt that way.”   
  


“Really?” Now it was Zuko’s turn to blush. “I thought you’d have figured it out when I asked you on a date.” 


End file.
